Full Term!

I am 37 weeks and 1 day into gestation today, which is a milestone. Gabriel is now considered full term! He can arrive any day now and his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though his due date is still three weeks away.

On average, a baby at this point should weigh 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel. At my ultrasound on December 9th, one estimate had Gabriel weighing 7 lbs and 2 ounces a week ago, so he is ahead of the average size baby. (Another estimate had him bigger than that.) Lucky me!

I am noticing more and more Braxton Hicks contractions these days, and I have lots of swelling in my feet and hands now. The hand swelling is relatively new over the last few weeks. I have heartburn almost 24 hours a day. My hips are aching, but I usually can get a full night of sleep in if I don't worry too much about work and wrapping up there before maternity leave. I'm also trying to find time to enjoy Gabriel's movement, as I think I am really going to miss that when he is born. I have finally had some net weight gain from when I first got pregnant, but I believe it to be mostly fluid based on the amount of swelling I've had since the start of December. For the most part, being pregnant hasn't been as bad as I expected it to be.

It's probably time to have a bag packed for myself and Gabriel.